Parenting

Jewish Camp is a valuable way for interfaith families to learn and share in the joy of Judaism in a comfortable, fun and meaningful environment. See which camps identify as welcoming to interfaith families.

Organizations

Connecting Interfaith Families to Jewish Life in Greater Cleveland by providing programs and opportunities for interfaith families to experience Judaism in a variety of venues, meet other interfaith families, and to connect to other Jewish organizations that may serve their needs.

Events

This is an interactive, fun, and low-key workshop for couples who are dating, engaged or recently married. The sessions will give you a chance to ask questions about faith, to think about where you are as an adult with your own spirituality and to talk through what's important to you and your partner.

For Program Providers

A great way for Jewish professionals and volunteers who work with and provide programming for people in interfaith relationships to locate resources and trainings to build more welcome into their Jewish communities; connect with and learn from each other; and publicize and enhance their programs and services.

Tag Archives: interfaith couples

â€¦with Grandparents with Grandchildren of Interfaith Marriages

ByÂ Rabbi Richard Address, D. Min.Â

In my travels to congregations and Jewish organizations for Jewish Sacred Aging, many issues seem to emerge organically in discussions of family dynamics. More often than not, concerns about caregiving and end-of-life issues are quickly raised. Not unusually, as situations get unpacked, another issue emerges: that of how to grandparent our grandchildren who are products of interfaith marriages.

This issue is no longer representative of a small cohort of families. Indeed, as baby boomers age and become grandparents, we are beginning to see the impact of the gradual rise in interfaith marriages among our own children. How many of our friends have confronted their children when it comes to the question of â€śHow will you be raising your children?â€ť Those childrenâ€”those names of those childrenâ€”are part of our claim on immortality. Is it our name, our legacy that is at stake? Or is it something else – a sense of time passing, a loss of control and a sadness that the world we expected will not be ours?

Every clergy person who does weddings has walked this walk with families. Indeed, some of those very same clergy have dealt with this in their own families. The time has come for our community to begin a serious dialogue on this issue. Opportunities for discussions and support for grandparents who are dealing with this issue need to take place and include those grandparents who already are having the conversation and adults whose children are engaged and about to be married.

There are an increasing number of clergy who are now performing interfaith ceremonies. Often during premarital counseling, the issue of how one will raise children comes up. Rarely, in my experience, however, are there opportunities for a conversation with the potential grandparents on their feelings and concerns. We all wish our children to be â€śhappy.â€ť We take pride in the fact that we have raised independent adults, responsible for their own choices. We also are observing that our adult children are more and more choosing marital partners from diverse cultural backgrounds.

How is this growing cultural and religious pluralism given voice within the framework of the larger family system? Could greater opportunities for dialogue and honest sharing of emotions lead to greater harmony and understanding? Hiding those feelings surely can and does create barriers and in the end, donâ€™t we all wish to nurture and savor these very primal family relationships? Arenâ€™t these relationships ever more meaningful as we age?

I recently sat down with a grandparents whose children married partners who are not Jewish. Not atypical, this couple was in a second marriage and so we add the issues of â€śblendedâ€ť relationships and the boundaries that come with this reality. We discussed some of the issues that these grandparents, both active and involved within their Jewish community, faced when dealing with their married children and their grandchildren. I asked them if they could suggest a brief checklist of issues that would be good to keep in mind. Some of the issues they raised were:

What does the role of â€śfamilyâ€ť play in your religious tradition? What does the role of religion play within your familyâ€™s tradition?

How much discussion was there between your adult children and you, the parent, regarding their decision on how to raise children?

Looking back, what were the issues that influenced how you responded to this issue? How did friends, family, community, religious identification and philosophy influence you?

Was this the first interfaith marriage within your family or extended family? If not, how was it handled before? What lessons were learned?

Are the feelings you have for your grandchildren who are being raised in another tradition different from your feelings for grandchildren who are being raised in your own tradition? Do you feel less connected? Is your love of a â€śdifferentâ€ť nature?

How do you handle speaking to your grandchildren about your tradition? Do you seek permission from the childrenâ€™s parents to discuss holidays, books, etc.?

Have the two sets of grandparents ever discussed this issue?

If your adult child converted to their spouseâ€™s religion, what were your emotions? Likewise, if your grandchild was baptized, how did you react?

These questions and concerns are being discussed and considered by an increasing number of grandparents now. Itâ€™s time for our community to create meaningful and non-judgmental opportunities for these issues to be raised. Our most important social connection remains family. How can we have an open conversation and honest dialogue? To repress emotions leads only to anger and discomfort and in an age which is so fraught with uncertainty, letâ€™s open these doors to a pathway to â€śshalom bayit.â€ť

When I asked my partner who is not Jewish if we could start visiting synagogues in hopes of finding a formal Jewish home for our worship and community, he agreed immediately. Â His first step was to clear Sundays on his calendarâ€”until I reminded him that while church meets on Sundays, Shabbat services are Friday nights and Saturday mornings in the Jewish community.

We started our search with Reform synagogues within a 20-30 minute drive. We wanted a synagogue with leadership that included women, whether in the form of a rabbi, cantor, executive director or board, and we were hoping for a community where a young(ish) couple like ourselves could find community.

I turned to a rabbi friend of mine to ask how to visit a new synagogue when youâ€™re thinking about membership. His advice:

â€śFolks should set their first visit inÂ accordanceÂ to what they think they will use as members. If they don’t plan on going to Shabbat services regularly, going to Shabbat services is not a great first visitâ€”too much potential for alienation.Â

Â If they are looking forÂ religiousÂ school, go to the education director.Â

Â If they are looking for fellowship, contacting the membership committee, the sisterhood or the executive director is a good start.Â

Â If the rabbi is really important, make a meeting.Â â€ś

Still a bit overwhelmed with the idea of setting up meetings, we began our research at home with a list of values we needed in a Jewish setting. Well aware that this was just the tip of the iceberg, we placed disability accessibility and inclusion, LGBTQ equality and inclusion, and the full welcoming of interfaith families at the top of the list.

Knowing that inclusion and equality is more than a yes or no answer, we put together a list of questions for the synagogue. Youâ€™re welcome to use the questions in your own search for a synagogue, but I also encourage you to think beyond these questions and identify issues that may be important to youâ€”such as how a synagogue embraces social justice or the environmental policies of the synagogue.

Disability accessibility:

How have you welcomed families with disabilities in the past?

Are your facilities accessible for folks with disabilities? Is there access to the bima for those with mobility issues (i.e.: folks with a walker, cane or wheelchair)? Do you have large-print prayer books?

Are people with disabilities active participants on committees, the board, sisterhood and menâ€™s club, in all programs and services, and on the staff?

Are children with disabilities welcome in the religious school? Are there bar/bat mitzvah tutors who work with students with disabilities?

Interfaith inclusion:

Will my partner, who is not Jewish, be fully welcome? How have you welcomed interfaith families in the past?

Will my partner, who is not Jewish, be allowed on the bima during our childâ€™s bar mitzvah?

Will my partner, who is not Jewish, be a welcome addition to the synagogue during events or services that I cannot attend?

Is religious school held on Easter (or other holidays that are part of another faith) and will accommodations be made if my child needs to miss school that day?

LGBTQ Inclusion:

How is your community inclusive for LGBTQ folks?

Do your membership forms utilize inclusive language?

Do you celebrate LGBTQ Jewish heroes in your religious school? Has your rabbi spoken about LGBTQ inclusion and acceptance during sermons?

Do you provide safe and gender-neutral spaces and bathrooms?

Are there active and out LGBTQ families regularly attending services?

We also came up with a list of questions that needed to be answered that touched on more of the tachlis or details:

What are the dues? Do you offer assistance or a sliding scale for lower income families?

What is the dress code?

How often are volunteer events held? How often are community social events held?

Who belongs to theÂ synagogue?Â Will we find others in their â€™20s and â€™30s?

Do you offer adult education programs?Â Are there classes in learning Hebrew or Torah study?

What is the schedule of services and events?

Armed with these questions and a better idea of what we were looking for, we were ready to start our search. From here we found several synagogues in driving distance of our home that appeared to share our values.

Weâ€™re excited for our next steps: sitting down with leadership, observing a Shabbat service and imagining ourselves as active members of the synagogue.